Merstuck

Chapter 4

It's not that big of a deal or anything, but Dave is starting to freak the fuck out.

Dirk has been gone for almost two and a half days now, but that's not uncommon; what's uncommon is the fact that he didn't tell Dave anything about him leaving for a little while.

Dirk leaving without warning used to be pretty commonplace, back when the terrifying merman who lived above their cave was here. He bullied Dirk and Dave incessantly, but he did kill threatening sharks and even a few sirens. Sometimes, he'd let Dirk and Dave get at a few of the scraps after he'd eaten most of his kill.

However, the sneaky fucker had to go and get killed by that one nasty mutant siren. Luckily, Dirk and Dave had been able to hide from the siren, Jack, but only barely. They hadn't gone out without warning since.

Dave wants to rip out his hair. What was his brother thinking? For all Dave knows, he's dead, caught, or lost.

After swimming around his cave for a good amount of time, flashing random phrases in frustration, Dave decides to go out and try to figure out where Dirk runs off to. He doesn't get a hint until it's almost dark.

He's swimming around the beach he and his brother used to live in before Jack became a threat when he sees them. While he's searching through the biggest cave on the beach, the one in the back, he pops his head out of the water for a second to scan the land for any clues. A glimmer of orange catches his eye and he swims over to the large, flat boulders jutting out into the water.

What he sees makes his heart stop and his eyes widen; There are a few broken orange scales on the stone, as well as the dried, shriveled remains of wrapped seaweed, and a few spots of dried blood just out of reach of the water.

He's about to grab his find and swim out when he hears footsteps. He swims back to the base of the boulders and huddles there, covering his tail with as much sand as possible. He keeps his eyes trained on the entrance to the cave.

A tall, broad-shouldered teen with wide hips stalks into the cave, walking right over to the boulders and shoving the stuff up there into the water. Dave watches, painfully, as the orange scales plunge into the water and sink, submerging themselves into the sand just out of his reach. The dried seaweed floats on top of the water.

Dave desperately wants to reach out and grab the scales before the sand covers them, but the teen has his eyes trained on the water and moving would give away Dave's position.

Suddenly, the teen starts dropping handfuls of sand into the water. Dave panics as one settles on his head and face, getting in his eyes.

More sand keeps coming, and he wills himself not to breathe so he doesn't accidentally inhale sand, but it takes too long and Dave has to take a huge, gasping gulp of water.

He starts coughing violently, his tail shifting and disturbing the sand covering it. He hears the teen shout "Who's there?" and panics, freezing once again.

Unfortunately, he's too late, and soon the teen jumps into the water, only the top parts of his legs covered by a strange pelt. His eyes land on Dave and he freezes as well.

Eventually the teen has to go up for air. Dave thinks he has an oppurtunity to escape but large hands hook under his shoulders and lift his out of the water.

"How long have you been here?" he demands, loudly. Dave wants to wince and rub his ear, but instead maintains a perfect poker face. He's never been more grateful for his shades; He doesn't know if his eyes would betray his fear.

"I don't know, man, how long have you been here?" Dave retorts.

The teen frowns, glaring at Dave.

Eventually the teen plops him down on the stone and faces him, arms crossed. Dave notices that he looks hilariously like a disappointed parent.

"Who are you?" The teen asks after a moment of unbroken eye contact.

"Who are you?" Dave responds.

"Stop responding to my questions with the same questions!" the teen yells, and Dave can't help but find it funny; the guy is riled up so easily. "My name's Karkat! Happy? Now answer the damn question!"

"I'm Dave," Dave crosses his arms and rolls his eyes, smirking.

"Oh, so you can converse like a normal person, instead of just parroting everything I say like some smug-ass little kid!" Karkat exlaims. Dave stifles a snicker. "Amazing!"

"C'mon, man, for all you know my species is mute. I mean, obviously merfolk can't speak underwater." Dave tells him.

Karkat opens his mouth to argue, only to shut it again, probably having realized he can't argue. He returns to glowering at Dave.

"I'll ask again. How long have you been here?" He asks.

"Uh, I have no clue, but I have been here since before you walked in." Karkat's eyes widen and his cheeks flush an almost brilliant shade of red.

"What did you hear?" Karkat almost shouts, losing whatever semblance of compusure he had previously maintained as he gestures wildly . Dave snickers and Karkat's gaze intensifies with horror.

"Man, are you dumb?" Dave laughs. "It's pretty well known that sound doesn't travel well through water."

"Fine." Karkat grunts, lowering his arms.

"However, you were being pretty emo. Bad breakup? Juliet turn you down?" Dave pretends to wonder, leaning into one hand, looking at the cave ceiling in mock thinking.

For a moment, Karkat looks like a deer in headlights.

"Oh, dude, it was a Romeo, wasn't it?"

Dave swears the merfolk in the next sea over can what Karkat's yelling the next second.